High-nickel insects and nickel hyperaccumulator plants: A review

Insects can vary greatly in whole-body elemental concentrations. Recent investigations of insects associated with Ni hyperaccumulator plants have identified insects with relatively elevated whole-body Ni levels. Evaluation of the limited data available indicates that a whole-body Ni concentration of 500 g Ni/g is exceptional: I propose that an insect species with a mean value of 500 g Ni/g or greater, in either larval/nymphal or adult stages, be considered a “high-Ni insect”. Using the 500 g Ni/g criterion, 15 species of high-Ni insects have been identified to date from studies in Mpumalanga (South Africa), New Caledonia and California (USA). The highest mean Ni concentration reported is 3 500 g Ni/g for nymphs of a South African Stenoscepa species (Orthoptera: Pyrgomorphidae). The majority of high-Ni insects (66%) are heteropteran herbivores. Studies of high-Ni insect host preference indicate they are monophagous (or nearly so) on a particular Ni hyperaccumulator plant species. Much of the Ni in bodies of these insects is in their guts (up to 66%-75%), but elevated levels have also been found in Malpighian tubules, suggesting efficient elimination as one strategy for dealing with a high-Ni diet. Tissue levels of Ni are generally much lower than gut concentrations, but up to 1 200 g Ni/g has been reported from exuviae, suggesting that molting may be another pathway of Ni elimination. One ecological function of the high Ni concentration of these insects may be to defend them against natural enemies, but to date only one experimental test has supported this “elemental defense” hypothesis. Community-level studies indicate that high-Ni insects mobilize Ni into food webs but that bioaccumulation of Ni does not occur at either plant-herbivore or herbivorepredator steps. Unsurprisingly, Ni bioaccumulation indices are greater for high-Ni insects compared to other insect species that feed on Ni hyperaccumulator plants. There is some evidence of Ni mobilization into food webs by insect visitors to flowers of Ni hyperaccumulator plants, but no high-Ni insect floral visitors have been reported.